Sugar Craving

Have you ever been this desperate for sugar? Last night, I was.

Snow Day

I am so glad that we have snow before Christmas, it just adds to all the excitement. These guys woke up this morning to all this snow and couldn't wait to get out.

I gave this little man a hair cut today. I love bottle caps candy, mainly because they are good but also because they are a great distraction when using clippers on a boy that can't hold still.

Too tired for tacos.........

There is something so sweet about your kids falling asleep at the dinner table, in a grocery cart, in the bath tub, or any place besides their crib/bed- you just have to take a picture. Maxwell only got one bite of his dinner and then he was out for the night, looks like he is not ready to skip his afternoon naps.

Benson's Wrestling Highlights

Little B just finished up his first wrestling season, his wrestling matches were pretty entertaining. I love how he is always in his own little world. We couldn't quite get him to replicate the intensity he shows while wrestling Annabelle, however he did have a fun catch and release session with mullet boy. See it for yourself below.

Our Halloween

Both of our families love Halloween so we had a busy fun filled weekend. I saw so many good costumes this year and I am so sad I didn't get pictures of everyone, I was too busy stuffing my face with good food and most importantly good candy. I was able to get a few of our family.....
Beetle was the "Beast" , I guess that is some sort of x-men character, I still need to see the movie. The blue acrylic paint is still haunting our shower curtain, but I guess it was worth him taking 1st place in the costume contest at my parents party. I was the "mean"witch and Annabelle was the "nice" witch, she made a point of telling me that more than once on Halloween.
My mom LOVES Halloween and always has. She had a fun party for the grand kids on Halloween eve, this is little B playing pin the nose on the pumpkin.
I was shocked Maxwell would kiss him.
How often do you see a llama trunk-or-treating? My kids love llamas, so this just added to the excitement of Halloween. What a fun weekend we all had!
A little bonus pic. Beetle- post costume.

What I found behind our couch today

This little guy also tried shaving his upper lip yesterday, which resulted in two horizontal slices to the top lip and a lot of bloody rags. He claims he was just trying to be like daddy. After finding this today and the shaving incident yesterday I realize I need to watch little B a bit closer.

One of these kids is not like the others

So the stats are in. Little M had his two year check up. These are his percentiles 35.69% Weight, 48.94% Length, Head...Drumroll.......93.0%. I was very pleased to see that his head is not off the charts anymore! I knew he was looking a bit more proportionate.
All was going well with the appointment until the Dr. asked how many words little M was saying. I said "about six, and really he can't finish any of his words, ex: ma, da, ba, do, moe and his favorite word Ah, but if you count mouthing words he can say a lot more". The doctor replied "mouthing words does not count, and neither do the other words because those are not words." So he suggested that I get him evaluated by "kids on the move" to see if he is eligible for speech therapy. Well those stats are also in, and he is eligible. He is in the 1% for speech in his age group. The nice lady who came and assessed him said he is speaking about how a 14 month old would speak. So really only 10 months behind.
Honestly I was not too shocked because I have been worried about his speech for a while, I am just glad we can start working on it, although there is something about him not talking that makes him still seem like a baby and I love it. So I am just going to enjoy him and not stress about the stats.

TWO

Our little baby is TWO! Honestly I don't think the "terrible two's" will ever apply to him, his sweet little smile matches his personality perfectly. Maybe I should wait to say that after he starts talking but even though he is not very vocal and is actually mouthing his words rather than saying them, he knows exactly what he wants and he always seems to find a way to get it.
" Yay, my guests are here!"
It doesn't take long to figure these out

This is what Maxwell pictures usually look like, but I love that head!

Top Of Utah Marathon

I finished my first Marathon! As you can tell from this very bad picture of me, I was pretty dang happy to be done running 26.2 Miles! My smile could not have been bigger. I finished in 5:28:40, it took me a lot longer than I expected but my two main goals were one, to FINISH and two, to run the whole thing (with the exception of stopping at the aid stations for Gatorade, water, bananas and oranges) this is what really slowed me down, but I was so worried about becoming dehydrated. Towards mile 22 my run was looking pretty bad but it was still a run! This marathon was such a great experience and I really would do it all over again.

Me and Tandi, we trained in the beginning with each other, but then she got way too fast for me, but it was a lot of fun to talk about our long runs every week, and it was so nice to have a buddy at the Marathon. We have known each other since we were like four yrs. old!
Mile 25: I am feeling pretty awesome that I just passed two Grandpa's and a person with a knee injury. The sad thing is- these two Grandpa's aced me out in the last .2 miles.
I had SO Much support! I could not have done it with out these guys! I really had the thought that I might not finish around mile 21 and then....... I saw Roman, Michelle, Rachel, and Roxanne and Millie, with their motivational signs, I really was crying I was so happy! Around mile 23- Rick, Cheryl, and Grandma Phyl-Phyl were cheering me on , Mile 25- Beetle and our kids, and my parents at the finish line, also everyone else had made their way back to the finish line. There is no way I could have quit with all of this support!
Beetle and the kids were my biggest fans and I really could not have done it without them. They had to sacrifice a lot in order for me to achieve my goal. I had to be away from home more than I wanted to be and Beetle was so good to watch the kids and also let me take naps after those long training runs. Thanks again everyone for all of your support, I am so glad I did it!

Lucky Seven!

Can you believe our little Annabelle is Seven! I can't believe how much she has grown up in just this past year. She is always watching out for her brothers and keeping them entertained. She loves to play "school", and is always the Teacher of course, the boys are her students. So for her birthday we bought her an easel with a chalkboard, whiteboard and paper roll on it. Watch out Maxwell and Benson, school will be in session around the clock at our house!
Annabelle's favorite dinner is homemade lasagna, so that is what she got. It was so much fun to have family over for Sunday dinner and the weather was perfect! Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with us.
Annabelle wanted everyone that brought her a present to come and give it to her and get a picture. It was cute to see her hug everyone. I am so thankful that Annabelle has so many people that love her!

It's never a party without Grandma Phyl-Phyl
Or Blue Eyes




Annabelle wanted to go to Chuck-e-Cheese for her birthday and she also chose Carl's Jr. for dinner. Carl's Jr. was definitely their favorite, I think we were there for almost two hrs. Now if we can make it through the next week without anyone getting the flu or who knows what else grows on those play lands, we will all be Lucky.

Making life interesting

This was the best we could find for a family treat last night. Benson is always finding ways to make us laugh, and he is pretty good at coming up with weird things on his own.
This one is turning into quite the character himself.

Another Great Wedding

Rachel was for sure the most Beautiful and Original Bride that day, she looked so pretty! Danny and her seemed so happy, I don't think their Special day could have been any better.Annabelle wanted a picture with the Bride so bad, it reminded me of being in Disneyland, following around the Disney princesses to get a picture.Benson on the other hand probably didn't even notice we were at a wedding. We found him like this after all the pictures had been taken. He is much too influenced by movies, I don't know which one he got this pose from, but it does show how it felt standing in 102 degree weather. He was sweating so bad.


There are so many neat places for pictures on the Salt Lake Temple grounds.

I loved how everyone said goodbye to Rachel and Danny with sparklers, our kids loved it and I think Beetle loved it even more.
Benson was so mad that his sparkler kept getting shorter, that he could not enjoy the time that he had with it. I am glad this was the only disappointment of the day, thanks Danny and Rachel for letting us share in such a fun day!

First Day of 1st.

I can't believe we have a first grader, and she is growing up way too fast! Annabelle was so excited to go to school ALL day, she said she was only sad a little bit because she was going to miss her brothers, she gave them big hugs before she ran out the door.

Beetle wanted to make the first day special, so he made Annabelle's favorite breakfast and bought her flowers. When I woke up the table was already set (complete-with two place mats). Annabelle asked if she could save some sausage to put in her lunch box. She is definitely her fathers daughter.

Annabelle was in zombie mode until the sausage hit her plate.

I am going to miss this girl! Yesterday seemed like such a long day without her. Honestly, I had thoughts of home school running through my mind more than once. She is really acting so grown up lately, I am so thankful for her strong spirited personality, that alone eases my mind that she can make it on her own....... without me, for six hours a day.

No Turning Back!

Its official, I finally signed up for the Logan Marathon! Only five more weeks and hopefully I will have achieved one of my ultimate goals. I naturally want to keep putting it off another year but I am only getting older, so I may as well give it a try. I am not going for speed, I just want to make it to the finish line, so hopefully I will make it, there is no turning back now- Woo Hoo!

Good Times with Family!

Here is a few summer time pics, that I thought some would enjoy. We have had such a fun summer and Its because we have been able to spend so much time with family. My kids are going to be so bored now that everyone is leaving! They love all their cousins so much. Thanks everyone for all the Good Times!


The preschool at Grandma Gayes


Getting some climbing in for the day
4th of July Parade
One of the highlights of the summer was Annabelle and Benson getting to go on a little ride in a hot air balloon at the hot air balloon festival.
Taking the pacifier away was also another highlight of our summer.

This little guy is responsible for A LOT of Good Laughs.....
Emmy Lou! What a good baby.
Millie-Another very good baby.
Syd and Benson had fun taking swim lessons together.
Maxwell has finally warmed up to playing in the water.

We were able to go to the Bees game for Regan's company party.



I'll bet that is some clean water.....
All of the Shoell Grandchildren and their proud Grandparents.
Beetle's Boss and his wife at the Bee's game with us(: Also my cute brother and sis-in law.
I love my sisters(:
Benson has been in to being a fireman this summer.
Some of the Smart grand kids at Roman and Michelle's wedding.
No, I'm not expecting.
My little Man.
Cold stone Ice cream had to be my kids favorite part of the wedding.
I ate about two cups of mini gummy bears, thanks Roman and Michelle!
I am really sad that I didn't take any pictures of the bride and groom( I was mainly focused on watching my kids to make sure they stayed out of the pool) - but I was able to steal this one from Rachel. They both looked great and seemed so happy. Their sealing was real neat, it motivated me to be a better wife and mother, it also strengthened my testimony on Temples and eternal families, so thank you Roman and Michelle!